Sunflower Faith

My Daily Bible Reading

Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

   2 Corinthians 7,8,9,10

Scripture

⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

      “ He has dispersed abroad,
      He has given to the poor;
      His righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰ Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹ while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. ¹² For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, ¹³ while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, ¹⁴ and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:6-16, New King James Version)

Observation:

I love the last part of this passage,” Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”.  I heard that in church and even now, reading it again for today’s Life Journal, I love reading it now and saying a loud,”Amen”.

Listening to our pastor share about it, I kept thinking….wow…It’s always is and will be about Him; Take Him out and it seems, well, empty.

We’ve been feeling very convicted and led to volunteer in a ministry and not only that, but as we submit ourselves to that, felt ourselves, being encouraged, “…and what else…”; It seems when we allow one door to open, not by our will, but by His, we find that the windows fly open and we go, “…this isn’t enough…what ELSE can be done FOR Him” and just feeling the power of the Holy Spirit just prompting us to go, “what else” is amazing.

With it, naturally, it was hard not to be human too and think…but….what can I do?

The realization is that….we, as followers of Christ, have ministries around us, and constantly in action that anything we allow to be done in “…service to Him” becomes an act of worship and service to our Father in Heaven and a testimony to His word.

It’s not an, open at 8, close at 8 p.m., thing, it’s as constant 7 days a week, 24 hours ministry that doesn’t stop and when we trust Him, when we follow Him, when we have faith in Him and give control to HIM, everything becomes a ministry, because we allow Him, by submission, to use us and the gifts, HE, not us, but HE blessed us with, to be used in His name and glory.

Wow.

That’s just wow.

I’m not the best writer and I’m sure many of you can agree.

I am the most social awkward child of God and I know that can be agree hands down, and the funny thing to me is that, He finds a way to use it to His advantage and a lot of times, it means going out of my comfort zone and realizing, I’m not the one in control, He is.

Me.

I have to be willing to just allow Him to work in and through me and not try to dictate what I do, on my terms but rather openly and honestly, work on His terms.

I was reading 1 Samuel as a result of a devotion that I received in an email and you may have read my post about it, and it really just humbled me what happen to King Saul when, instead of listening to God or even Samuel, rather than be patient, decided he would just go out on a whim, on his terms and understanding and take control and the result that happen.

He even tried to find the next king, not based on what God was looking for, but on earthly terms and yet, there was David; a man after God’s heart, who didn’t fuss or argue, or get upset, but just waited.

Wait.

That’s a hard thing for many of us.

It’s a test of our self-control.

And what happens when we allow our emotions and lack of self-control get the better of us?

Disaster.

People get hurt and suffer.

And it’s a hard, broken road to travel back on.

God loves you. He loves us all.

It’s not about me.

It’s not about you.

It’s about Him.

This blog. Ha. Nothing if it wasn’t for Him.

I blog because this is a small part of my act of service to Him that I felt Him call me to; I still remember that day. He wanted me out of my comfort zone.

He wanted me to not think it was okay to be shy and reserve and not share my faith, but instead challenge me to take the steps to walk out and go, this is how I feel about Him.

It’s scary.

The risk of exposure, the fact that it means, I can’t fluff up the pillows to make me comfortable, but to willingly lay this blog, what I write, what I believe, what I am, in His hands and take the good with the bad (and pray that the bad can be not so bad…lol).

But it goes down to simple service to and for Him.

There is someone out there, who once was lost and maybe seeking to be found and if not by me, maybe by a blog link I share, or by visiting or reading a person’s comment, that one seed, just one seed can be planted and prayfully grown, that is a blessing…to Him.

And to Him only.

When we serve at church, it’s not to gain notice, but prayers, that maybe, someday, not now, maybe not now, but maybe in the future, we may not even be around to see, someone, somehow, somewhere, would be blessed by His word and His word only and come to know what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to come to call Him, Father, Abba.

It’s a dare that if we dare to call ourselves, followers of Christ, we can not pick and choose whom we love, just as our Heavenly Father, does not pick or choose whom He loves, but calls to all, to renounce their sin, to come to Him and accept His grace and to be saved, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Application:

I feel challenge to not feel fear or timidity, for our Heavenly Father does not call us to be afraid, but to be strengthen and embolden by His word to share His word and share Him to those who have yet to call Him,”Lord and Saviour”.

It is an encouragement to not share our words, based on a changing and fickle word, but on the solid, rock foundation of our Heavenly Father and take the good with the bad and not just seek the good. He sought us, even in the darkest of the storms in our lives and offers us hope and redemption.

We are His ambassadors and His lighthouse to the truth. It serves ships, who are floundering at sea, no comfort, if we selectively choose where we shine our light, but instead challenge ourselves, to share our light with all and with the same that He has shown and to let all know, it’s Him…it’s all about Him.

Prayer:

Lord, I am grateful You are my Lord and Saviour and that in Your truth, You broke the chains that sin has bound us with and grasp our hands with Yours and leads us to redemption and grace.

Lord, I pray and hope You keep challenging us and convicting us to move beyond comfortable and out of our comfort zone and challenge us to share Your word and to be in service to You in all we do.

Thank You Heavenly Father, Thank You Abba, Thank You.

Amen

****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2009All Rights Reserved

My Daily Bible Reading

Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

2 Corinthians 3; 2 Corinthians 4; 2 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 6 

Scripture

 ¹ Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.

² But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

³ But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴ whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

⁵ For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:1-6, New King James Version)

Observation:

This really just popped out at me.

Why do we do the things that we do?

This question was brought to me in the form of a bloggy award, and it was a time of “Why do you blog” and particularly if you are a Chrisitan, “why do you blog”?

This quote keeps coming up, from a blog, I had the chance to visit one day and it is a reminder to all of us as followers of Christ, that “If we call ourselves, Christians, we cannot choose whom we love”?

Just like our Father in Heaven, doesn’t pick and choose whom He loves, for He loved ALL of us, that He sent His one and only Son to die, not just for selective people but for all, and it was ALL who has fallen short of the glory of God, not just a select few.

What does the verse speak to you? “………not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God….”

 It’s a reminder that we have to be careful that what we share and what we believe in, isn’t to satisfy our self-esteem, or use to justify holding grief or grudge against others, because if we did, is that truly being a follower of Christ or is that being a follower of self.

If we can not rise above ourselves and let God be the one in control and do as our Father in Heaven would, then does it become a case of….we care more about ourselves than what our Father in Heaven, not ask but COMMANDS us to do.

⁵ For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

When we blog, particularly about our role as following Christ, we put ourselves into a transparent role of accountability. When people visit our blogs, do they read about us, or do they read about the Good word of our Heavenly Father through our words.

Application:

This verse just felt like a constant reminder that people will come to know our Heavenly Father not in just our words but in our actions too; That be it on our FB, Twitter, blog, wherever we are, we are still accountable for the words and the actions that we share and do.

No matter what we do, we need to make sure that we don’t lose sight of the bigger picture that it’s all about Him and it’s not all about us.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank You for the start of this new day and week and I pray and hope that You see us through this week with conviction, discernment and encouragement. Guide our hearts, our souls and our tongues, that what we do and say, reflects You, Lord and not us.

That it stays about You and not about us and that our actions and our words, serve to lift up, not to tear down. Thank You Heavenly Father for all that You are and all that You do and I pray and hope that all will know You are Lord of all and You are a Loving Father who seeks to free us all from the chains of sin.

Amen.

****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2009All Rights Reserved

My Daily Bible Reading

Today’s Life Journal Reading is from:

Job 37,38; 1 Corinthians 12

Scripture:

 ¹ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: ² You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶ And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

 ⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: ⁸ for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.   

¹² For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴ For in fact the body is not one member but many.

¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?

 ¹⁸ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. ¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

 

²⁰ But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

 ²³ And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, ²⁴ but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵ that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. ²⁸ And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Corinthians 12, New King James Version)

 

Observation:

We are EACH blessed with our own unique gifts. You and I. We may not be a Beth Moore or a Chuck Swindoll or C.H. Spurgeon, but that doesn’t lessen our worth and what we have to offer to the ultimate person it does matter to, our Father in Heaven.

He is the ONLY person who cares and the only person, we should care about pleasing. Not your mom or dad, or your best friend, or your husband, or your kids or yourself.

Him.

People are going to judge and be fickle but the truth is, that God He knows what you can and knows that if you do it whole heartly because you want to seek Him, be of service to Him and to worship Him, He is going to bless you for that.

Don’t try to be someone you are not or what someone else wants you to be. You can’t.

As believers and followers, we have our own uniqueness, our own style of writing and talking and believing and ultimately as long as we are going to the same goal, based not on what someone else decides but based on HIS WORD and HIS WORD alone, it is our differences that make us special to Him.

As I read, 1 Corinthians 12:23-26,” ²³ And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, ²⁴ but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵ that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

We are all part of the same body and it doesn’t help if the body is attacking itself. It’s like the hand telling the foot what it should do based on what the hand is doing and the ear is telling the thumb, it needs to hear like the ear does, otherwise it’s not really part of the body, even though it’s a thumb and God is using the thumb for something different than He is using the ear doing, but yet,when you put the body all together, it functions for the same thing.

When I work full time, long time ago, the way things work, to get a project done, was that we all had one common goal, get the project done, but we didn’t do it by working on the same parts together.

Different parts of the project was assigned to different people and though the people approached , their own assignments in different ways, the end goal was to get the project done on time, together.

Application:

Appreciation. This passage taught me appreciation that we may vary in how we see things, but it’s not a reason to cause division. It’s not a reason for me to judge and that the focus should be on are we getting to the same goal together and stop nit picking on how we get to it.

If we share the same core beliefs and we are seeking the same goal, we should be focus on pleasing our Father in Heaven and not trying to please each other.

During bible study, one of the members brought up an interesting analogy.

Sandpaper.

Feel how rough sandpaper is?

Sometimes there are people in our lives that may feel like that, but have you stop to think what sandpaper does?

It smooths.

Maybe, sometimes, its not about them, but about us.

Maybe we are the ones that need to be smoothed and not to be conformed,but it’s God’s way of saying, hey…maybe you need to work on issues of acceptance, or patience or being dependent a little more and not trying to have it your way all the time or even have the time, but learn to work together, in cohesion not competition.

We serve an Amazing Father don’t we?

Prayer:

Lord, Thank You for being an awesome Father and I pray and hope that You keep challenging and encouraging me and others in Your word. Lord, teach us compassion, acceptance, self-control, patience, temperance, working together, not being judgemental, Lord the list is endless.

In Matthews 9:12-13; You remind us that You sent Your Son, NOT to heal the healthy but the sick; Our focus should be on those who are sick and in need of Your word.  Your Son walked about prostitutes, and thieves and tax payers, you used a murderer (Saul) to write a good portion of Your word; Help soften our words and our hearts.  You desire mercy, not sacrifice and I pray and hope we remember that.

Help us avoid walking the road of the Pharisees, who even when Christ walked among them, they did not see Him for who He is but tried to make Him into who they were.

Don’t let us fall into that trap.

It’s not about us.

It’s about You.

In Your Name I pray, Amen

****Purpose of this post****

Gentle Readers, There are days that I will read a verse or passage and just feel pulled to share here, but there are days when I will read something and just feel, I need to spend the day, in personal contemplation of what is being convey and may just post via Twitter, what passages I have read that day and post nothing on here.

That is what bible reading is about; It’s not about having to write something down everyday; There maybe days when you are reading say, Numbers and it’s just lineages, but other days, you may find yourself dealing with a “powerhouse verse” of the moment and have to just go “WOW” and seek God in personal time and prayer to understand what He is sharing.

I will try to post daily, but particularly on weekends, if I’m sick or I’m just completely in awe of what I’m reading or maybe I am trying to understand what I am reading, I may not post here, I may just write in my Life Journal (hardcopy), because I will find myself having to seek His Word and/or the Commentary and just seek in prayer to understand what our Father in  Heaven is seeking to reveal.

Either way.

Reading His Word, is about getting to know Him better and developing your Christian growth and maturity. Do what is right and good for you.

If you do use the Life Journal and participate in the daily readings, I would like to hear from you and your perspective on each day’s reading, when I do have a post up, or feel free to comment on a previous “Daily Bible Reading post” or send me a quick email.

Please feel free to join in the linky that I post below, so others too, who uses the Life Journal/or SOAP method to read the bible can participate.

Don’t feel obligate to have to blog about each passage to be read, but if anything, feel free to share those passages that have the most impact on you that day.

There maybe some days that you may read your daily reading and find nothing to jot down in your journal or on your blog and that’s okay, but there maybe other days, that you will find yourself inspire.

This is about you being encouraged to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and spending each day with Him, You and Him.

It is my prayer and hope that this will be an encouragement to establish a personal daily reading as well.

To find out more about using the S.O.A.P. method, here’s a link to an ehow article and here’s the link to the Life Journal to find out more what it is, and how you can use it for your own daily bible readings. If you don’t want to order the journal or if it’s not available through your local church, another method is simply, buy a journal or notebook or even blog about your life journal readings.

Disclaimer: I am not personally affiliated with the church that the link goes to, but merely share it as a resource of what the Life Journal is, how to order it.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2009All Rights Reserved